Issue - meetings

Report of the Corporate Director for People

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People introduced the report on Children’s Integrated Services Ofsted Focused Visit and Improvement Programme to the Committee. Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People gave a presentation outlining the background to the visit and the actions identified. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  In November 2018 a full Ofsted inspection on Nottingham City Council’s Children’s services concluded that they required Improvement to be good.  It noted the need to improve the capacity of the workforce to meet the complexity and demand of the workload;

(b)  A focused visit in February 2020 looking specifically at children in need and focused on those at risk of neglect. Two priority actions were identified

·  To address failure in social work practice to ensure that planning and intervention improved children’s experiences and that emerging risks are identified and responded to; and

·  Stabilise the workforce and address the shortfall in capacity to ensure social workers can respond effectively to children in need and of help and protection

(c)  The first step in response was to bring in more  staff to increase capacity. An action plan was formed to and submitted to Ofsted to address the identified priority actions. The Council has also spent time working with other Councils in the East Midlands, and the Department for Education to formulate a Children’s Services Improvement plan;

(d)  Nottingham City Council has been working with Essex County Council as part of the Partners in Practice scheme, supported by the Department for Education, to address the issues raised by Ofsted and to ensure that Children are at the heart of the journey;

(e)  To drive and support the Improvement Programme  the Council has established the Children at the Heart Improvement board which is chaired by the Interim Chief Executive, with Councillors, senior officers and partners.  The ambition is to achieve good quality children’s services.

(f)  The first priority for the Council is to stabilise the workforce. Pay and development opportunities have been revised to ensure that the Nottingham City Coucil offer is competitive and that the city has an attractive offer for candidates. The offer is not just about salary it also incorporates opportunity for further development;

(g)  At present there are a number of agency staff filling gaps within teams to increase the capcity. It is recognised that ageny staff is not the best way to create stability but they increase capacity whilst substantive recritument takes place. It is hoped that agency staff will see the exciting opportunities that Nottingham City Council can offer and will choose to become Council employees;

(h)  Additional management have been recruited to offer better oversight of work. With the programme leads there has been a relaunch of the practice model and standards across all social work teams and a particular focus on development and launch of a Neglect Practice Guidance and Toolkit. All practitioners will be receiving this training throughout June and July to ensure a strong understanding of the model of practice;

(i)  A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5